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Nehemiah 9 – Praying through the Bible #156 – A Prayer that is Praying the Bible
Have you prayed the Bible? Have you taken entire books or significant sections as an outline for your prayer? This is amazingly what we see the Levites doing in Nehemiah 9. They had just “read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God” (Nehemiah 9:3). A fourth is six hours. We pray what fills our minds. What fills our minds is what fills our time.
- 9.6 –God the Creator – Genesis 1
- 9.7-8 – God’s covenant with Abraham – Genesis 12-15
- 9.10-12 – Israel’s Escape from Egypt – Exodus 1-15
- 9.13-14 – God Gives Israel the 10 Commandments – Exodus 10
- 9.15 – God Provides Manna and Water – Exodus 16-17
- 9.16-18 – Israel Rebels – Exodus 32
- 9.19-21 – Pillars of Fire and Cloud – Exodus, Numbers
- 9:21 – Israel Wanders for 40 Years – Numbers
- 9.23-25 – Israel Inherits the Land – Joshua
- 9.26-28 – Israel cycles through sin and salvation – Judges
- 9.29-31 – Israel, Judah Punished – Samuel, Kings, Chronicles
Starting in v.32, the Levites pray “modern history,” the protection during and return from captivity. All through they confess Israel’s sins and God’s compassion. Although having no right, even though God has brought them back, they lift up their complaint to God because they are still slaves in their land (9.36-37). That is how much they believe in the compassion of their God. Literally, this prayer is a history lesson. Literarily, this prayer is a factual morality play. It is their history with a moral lesson.
Now how can we imitate this prayer? One way is to pray the Bible. More than is comfortable to admit, our lives mirror the Israelites. God created us, freed us from slavery, and provides for us daily manna; and yet we continually get stiff necks and foolish hearts. We could take Jesus’ life and pray about the events and how Jesus overcame, pleading with God to empower us to overcome ourselves. Study a book to pray is another way. Use your Bibles in an imaginative way! A second way is to pray our lives. This might mean our personal life, family, or the historical life of our church and its ups and downs. What is undeniable is this Levitical prayer is one of the most knowledge filled prayers in the entire Bible. To pray like this, we must be filled with knowledge ourselves. To pray like this, we must be humble, having confessed and worshiped. Remember, we pray what fills our minds. What fills our minds is what fills our time.
Prayer Challenge: Whether from memory, or making an outline, imitate this style of prayer. Pray through the Bible by praying the Bible.
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